On May 21, Thursday, there was this awesome Senate hearing that set out to probe into the procurement of new motor-vehicle license plates amounting to P3.8 billion. The inquiry was chaired by Senator JV Ejercito, who was joined by his colleagues Senators Ralph Recto and Alan Peter Cayetano. In attendance were officials from the Department of Transportation and Communications, the Land Transportation Office, and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.

We were invited to attend this hearing but were unable to go due to a prior commitment. Fortunately, a staff member of the Senate forwarded to us the full transcript of the hearing. It's interesting reading, we tell you. So interesting we now truly regret not going. And if the transcript weren't 152 pages long, we'd publish everything here.

What we'll do instead is share with you the exchange between Senator Ralph Recto and LTO assistant secretary Alfonso Tan Jr. This took place almost immediately after the initial formalities had been dispensed with. We'll divide this into two parts, and we'll touch nothing--we'll post everything as is, wrong grammar and all. It's pretty entertaining.

ATTY. TAN: Good morning, Your Honors. I am representing LTO. First of all, the Motor Vehicle Plate Standardization Program was conceptualized and implemented primarily to deal with the problems surrounding the production, distribution and issuance of license plates. We’ve started implementing this April of last year with the new vehicles and then we started implementing this to replace the old license plates starting January of this year. This is separate from when LTO decided to implement and reimpose the no registration-no travel policy. To clarify, Your Honor, we have not stated that our policy is no plate-no travel. It has always been no registration-no travel.

SEN. EJERCITO: So, Atty. Tan, as long as the vehicles are registered, pag wala pa iyong plate numbers, they can be used by...puwede ho siyang gamitin?

ATTY. TAN: Yes, Your Honor.

(Senator Recto is recognized.)

SEN. RECTO: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, just for the information of the Committee, the chairman is correct that I filed PS Resolution No. 31 and we heard this is referred to the Public Services Committee and there was a hearing conducted in March of 2014. So this would be the second time that I will be attending a hearing on the same issue. Mr. Chairman, puwede ho bang magtanong unang-una? Atty. Tan, who authorized na itong programa na palitan lahat ng plate number?

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ATTY. TAN: The program was initiated by LTO and presented to the DOTC, and was approved by the DOTC.

ATTY. TAN: Historically, Your Honor, LTO has always proposed standardizing its license plates. It was only implemented now. The reason being, if you look at our streets today, there are 10 different license plates design.

ATTY. TAN: I wouldn’t say may kasalanan, Your Honor, but it appears that whenever different--

SEN. RECTO: But the question is, why is it that you have 10 designs today for license plates? Is it because of the owners of the vehicles or is it because institutionally, the LTO, in many administrations, change the plate numbers or the design of the plates?

ATTY. TAN: Ang kapalit po nito, we are ensured that there is ease in identification for vehicles on the road. If you look at our plates design now, it is not administration or politically oriented. It is agnostic, Your Honor, in that the bottom portion just states the region and not any slogan.

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SEN. RECTO: Pero galing lahat iyon sa LTO din. What good has it done to the public na palitan natin lahat ng plate number right now, nabawasan ba iyong traffic?

ATTY. TAN: Like I said, Your Honor, it was never meant to reduce traffic, Your Honor.

SEN. RECTO: So you’re saying for what purpose again?

ATTY. TAN: To standardize, Your Honor. Ease in identification.

SEN. RECTO: Why? What is the problem right now with the three year-old vehicle with a plate number issued by government, issued by you?

ATTY. TAN: Your Honor, if we are talking--

SEN. RECTO: You cannot identify that vehicle?

ATTY. TAN: Your Honor, if we’re talking about...first of all, let me state, Your Honor, that when we talk to our enforcers on the road, they mainly rely on the design and series of the plate number to spot the possibly colorum, smuggled, or carnapped vehicles. The example would be old-designed plates on new model vehicles. So if we’re talking about the latest three-year motor vehicles, that would pose a big problem because of the plate backlog we had in 2011 and 2012.

ATTY. TAN: We started with the new plates April of 2014, Your Honor. And we started replacing the new four-wheeled plates, January of this year.

(NOTE: At this point, Senator Recto turned his attention to Atty. Jose Perpetuo Lotilla, chairman of the 2013 Bids and Awards Committee on Plate Project, under the DOTC. We will jump to the resumption of Senator Recto's grilling of Atty. Tan in the second part of this post.)

Good day Topgear. I'm wondering if you can share some thoughts on this. Are major car dealerships (like Honda, Toyota & others) obligated to provide towing services for vehicle units under full warranty which are confirmed to be a legitimate car or parts failure?
Thank you.

Alchemy07:

Hi TopGear, What's the best luxury diesel SUV from your end with a budget of 5M max?

jcheavens58:

Good day TopGear. Newbie here. I would like to know if all Premium gasoline in the Philippines today are also unleaded? And please enlighten if filling up my car with Premium gasoline(XCS/Blaze/VPower) instead of the manufacturer's recommended Unleaded RON 91 gasoline would do harm or damage to the engine?

ronnieb.:

good day top gear ph. when is the right time/kms reading that i go to reputable car shop instead of casa for the servicing? my vehicle needs to go to 25k kms service. thank you in advance

rain.bason:

Hi Top Gear PH, I want to seek your opinion and expertise about some issue on my car but I'm not sure how can I send it over to you. Is there an email address that I can email with?

carnuts888:

Good Day,
I would like to know why KIA does not sell here the Kia Ray sold in South Korea and also why Toyota does not sell here the toyota tank and Daihatsu Thor offered in Japan. I think there would be buyers here for these models if they bring it in.

markvibar78:

Wow why is it if their is a new model from mitsubishi or toyota they always have an immediate counter part. Like the MitsuExpander then now this toyota rush.

jedidiah08:

Hi Top Gear ATTN: Botchi Santos,
Me and my mom are planning to buy a PPV SUV this December, I'm very much excited to acquire one, but I really need more advise than ever, because buying a vehicle is not a joke, my choices are the Mitsubishi Montero 2017 GLX M/T, Isuzu MU-X 2.5 LS-A M/T, Chevrolet Trailblazer 2.5 MT LT, and the Ford Everest 2.2 Ambiente M/T, I'm a fan of Manual, and I'm also aiming for the Base Variants because they are cheaper, what would you suggest from the above Units, in

@Cyverwin, if you want the X1 you already have a winner for yourself, since the X1 is a good product from BMW and the XV is also a good product too that also has plenty of goodies to start, afterall, it's brand preference and what you really like.